Franklin Roosevelt instinctively understood that a politician of his 
era who was unable to control his own body would be perceived
as unable to control the body politic. He therefore took great care
to hide his polio-induced lameness both visually and verbally.

    In FDR’s Body Politics, Davis W. Houck and Amos Kiewe draw
on never-before-used primary sources to analyze the silences 
surrounding Roosevelt’s disability, the words he chose to portray 
himself and his policies as powerful and health-giving, and the 
methods he used to maximize the appearance of physical strength. 
They examine his broad strategies, as well as the speeches 
Roosevelt delivered during his political comeback after polio struck,
to understand how he overcame the whispering campaign against
him in 1928 and 1932.

    Ultimately, this is a story of triumph and courage that reveals a 
master politician’s understanding of the body politic in the most 
fundamental of ways.

_________________________________________________________

DAVIS W. HOUCK is an assistant professor of communication at 
Florida State University in Tallahassee. His works include Rhetoric
as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression and
FDR and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address, also published
by Texas A&M University Press. AMOS KIEWE, director of the
speech communications department and associate dean of the
College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in
New York, has written and edited several books, including The
Modern Presidency and Crisis Rhetoric and A Shining City on a
Hill: Ronald Reagan’s Economic Rhetoric, 1951–1989.


Number Eight: Presidential Rhetoric Series


What people are saying about this book


". . this book offers a new perspective on the presidency and its 
rhetorical and political challenges as it intersects with the broader 
history, the presidency, political communication, and those with 
interests in political culture."—The Review of Politics